1. Technical Field
The present invention relates broadly to minnow buckets and more particularly, to a minnow bucket including an automatic minnow dispenser that is operable to quickly provide an angler with a minnow when needed.
2. Related Art
Almost for as long as the sport of fishing has existed, anglers have used live bait to catch fish. The use of live bait presents a problem for the angler as live bait needs to be kept alive in a container so that there is easy access. Originally, minnow buckets were simply a pail that held water and minnows. The pail was kept either in the boat or on shore. To extend the life of the minnows, the angler may exchange the old water in the pail for fresh water from the lake or stream.
Eventually minnow buckets were developed that floated in the lake or stream. These floating minnow buckets completely encased the minnows inside the buckets. They included holes through the sidewalls that allowed for the free exchange of water inside the pail with water outside the pail. Sometimes water is exchanged by pouring the water out through the holes and then placing the bucket back in the water to refill the bucket. The exchange of water, however, usually occurs when the water outside the pail moved relative to the pail. Such an occurrence would take place when the angler trolled in a lake or remained stationary in a stream.
One problem with existing minnow buckets is being able to provide the angler with easy access to the minnows contained in the minnow bucket. The angler does not want to spend lots of time chasing minnows around in the minnow bucket. In addition, with some existing minnow buckets the angler cannot see or can barely see the minnows once their hand is placed inside the minnow bucket. As such, a need exists for a minnow bucket that is capable of providing a minnow to the angler without the angler having to “fish” around for one in the minnow bucket. 